[UPDATED] Donald Trump Just Went on an Awful, Shaming Tirade Against Alicia Machado

Former Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado has landed at the center of the battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Clinton mentioned Machado during the debate, and then released an ad in which Machado describes Trump calling her “Miss Piggy” and bullying her into losing weight. Now, Trump is on the offensive, shaming her for her past and accusing her of having a sex tape.

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This week, Trump’s team has bafflingly argued that Trump was helping Machado at the time, because pageant officials wanted to fire her for gaining weight. Plus, right-wing media have brought up past criminal claims against her, none of which led to any indictments. Machado has responded that she’s not a “saint girl,” but either way, that doesn’t justify the way Trump has been shaming her — first for her weight, and now for her sexuality.

In the early hours of Friday morning, Trump went on a tirade on Twitter against Machado, calling her “disgusting” and claiming that she appears in a sex tape. According to the Associated Press, this “sex tape” is likely a 2005 clip from a reality show, in which Machado appears in bed with a male contestant; stills from the show that have circulated are grainy and do not even contain nudity. He argues that Clinton got duped by a “con” who shouldn’t be held up as any moral example.

Wow, Crooked Hillary was duped and used by my worst Miss U. Hillary floated her as an "angel" without checking her past, which is terrible!

Clinton herself hasn’t responded to the tweets, but her press secretary Brian Fallon tweeted, “What kind of human being is this?” And John Podesta, head of her campaign, tweeted some sage advice to Trump: Never tweet without getting enough sleep. Nothing good can come from it.

The Republican candidate and his campaign team are again generating attacks, insults, and attempting to to revive defamations and false accusations about my life. All this with the intent to intimidate me, humiliate me, and destabilize me. The attacks that have resurfaced are slander and cheap lies generated with bad intentions, that have no foundation, that have been released by sensationalist media. This, of course, is not the first time that I’ve faced a situation like this. Through his campaign based on hate, the Republican candidate has insisted on discrediting and demoralizing a woman, that which is definitively one of his most terrifying characteristics. With this, he attempts to distract attention from his real problems and his inability to pretend to be the leader of this great country. When I was just a young woman, the now candidate, humiliated me, insulted me, he disrespected me publicly, as he usually did privately in the cruelest way. As this happened to me, it is clear through the years, that his actions and behavior has repeated with other women for decades. Therefore, I will keep standing, sharing my story, my absolute support of Mrs. Clinton on behalf of women, of my sisters, aunts, grandmothers, cousins, friends and the female community. To my Latinas and in general, I want to thank you for all your support, the love and respect, to my career, to myself as a human being and to my family. I became a citizen of this great country because my daughter was born here and because I wanted to exercise all my rights, including voting.

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I will continue firmly standing in my experience lived as Miss Universe and with you supporting me. I’ve been so pleased for all the kind words and love. I am focusing on my busy career, in my work as a mother, and I will continue taking positive steps for the Latino community, I will continue as an activist for women’s rights and for the respect we deserve. I appreciate all your love and your support again, thanks. Thousands of blessings.

Update 9/30, 3:15 p.m.: Trump tweeted yet again about the controversy Friday afternoon, saying his early-morning tweets mean he'll be alert when disaster strikes. It's also a callback to a 2008 campaign ad Clinton ran against Barack Obama, asking which candidate would be better to answer a phone call at 3 a.m.

For those few people knocking me for tweeting at three o'clock in the morning, at least you know I will be there, awake, to answer the call!

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